Henry Watson

Narrative of Henry Watson, a Fugitive Slave: Written by Himself

Narrative of Henry Watson, A Fugitive Slave [1848]. According to his narrative, Henry Watson was born into slavery near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1813. Watson's master, whom he remembers only as "Bibb," worked primarily at raising slaves for sale. Watson's mother, the cook in the great house, was sold when Watson was eight. Shortly thereafter, Watson himself was sold to Parson Janer, with whom he remained only a brief time before being sent to auction in Richmond, Virginia. Watson was purchased by a slave trader named Denton, who forced him to walk, along with many other slaves, to Natchez, Mississippi. Watson was purchased by the tyrannical Alexander McNeill, who kept Watson as a house slave for approximately five years. When Watson refused to inform on another slave, he was sent to work as a field hand on McNeill's farm. Watson was purchased by Alexander McNeill's brother, William, who, while initially kind, becomes cruel under the influence of his controlling and sadistic wife. Watson was then sold to an unnamed man who put him to work in a hotel dining room. Over the next few years, Watson developed a gambling habit, stabbed another slave, and was hired out and sold. A Northern man eventually alerted Watson to a means of escape on a ship bound for Boston. Upon reaching Boston at age 26, Watson met William Lloyd Garrison, who advised him to flee the country. Watson spent a few months in Britain but returned to the United States, where he remained, with his unnamed wife, at the close of his narrative.